Wyndham Clark and caddie John Ellis part ways after eight years

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Wyndham Clark and caddie John Ellis have split. After eight years, they have gone their separate ways in what they are both describing as a mutual decision.

Clark has Dave Pelekoudas, otherwise known as “Big Wave Dave,” on the bag this week at the Valspar Championship , where Clark opened with 1-under 70 on Thursday. “We had a good run,” Clark told Golfweek after his first round at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. “We both just felt like it was time to move on and we wanted to choose our friendship over the job.

It’s been kind of a tough last year of golf and we both mutually were like, alright, let’s just take a little break and reassess maybe later. ” Asked if he thought they might get back together, he said, “I don’t know, but you never know. ” More: Valspar Championship leaderboard updates for Friday's second round Theirs is a working relationship forged at the University of Oregon in 2016 after Clark transferred there from Oklahoma State for his senior year.

At the same time, Ellis’s pro career was fizzling out and he returned to his alma mater as an assistant to Casey Martin. Ellis did such a good job grooming Clark, who was Golfweek’s Collegiate Player of the Year in 2017, that when he struggled on the Korn Ferry Tour after turning pro, Clark texted Ellis an image of a sinking ship and asked him to caddie for him temporarily. Ellis immediately helped Clark stay afloat and earn his PGA Tour card and went to work for Clark full-time.